Objective 1: To understand the consequences of hunger and malnutrition
Materials
Fact Sheets: Food Gives Us...
Vitamins and Minerals
Concept: Adequate food is essential for an active and healthy life
Content
- Food is essential for life. To be healthy and well
nourished, we must have adequate amounts of a variety of good-quality, safe
foods. Without adequate nutrition, children cannot develop their potential to
the fullest and adults will experience difficulty in maintaining or expanding
theirs.
- Food provides us with the energy we need for growth,
physical activity and the basic body functions (breathing, thinking,
temperature control, blood circulation and digestion). Food also supplies us
with the materials to build and maintain the body and to promote resistance to
disease.
- These different functions are made possible by the
nutrients contained in food. The types of nutrients in food are
carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and water. All foods contain
one or more of these nutrients in varying amounts. Each type of nutrient
serves particular functions. This is why diversity in our diets is important
for good health. We need all of the nutrients, provided by a variety of foods,
for all of our body processes.
- Too much food or an improper balance of food can
contribute to poor health and the risk of chronic diseases such as obesity,
heart disease and diabetes.
- Good nutrition also depends on keeping food safe to eat and preserving its nutritional quality.
Activities
- Discuss the points listed above, as time allows,
according to the students' background and needs. Tell students that food contains
substances that are essential for life. Some of these are so tiny
we cannot see them, but without them our body systems will not work. These
substances are all found in food, but in many different foods, so we must eat
a variety of foods to make sure that we get all of them in our diets.
- The fact sheet
Food Gives Us... provides general information on nutrition, including the functions of the energy nutrients: proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Food sources are listed for these three energy nutrients, as well as for four vitamins and minerals: vitamin A, B vitamins, vitamin C and iron. Ask students to make a list of the foods eaten in a typical day, to see if they provide the variety needed to obtain the nutrients listed. For instance, do their lists contain foods rich in protein, vitamin A, iron? If they do not contain foods rich in one or more of the listed nutrients, discuss with students what foods could be added to their diets to get the needed nutrients.
Concept: Poor health, growth and development can result from hunger and poor nutrition
Content
Major health and nutritional consequences of insufficient food and poor nutrition include:
- Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) results in poor growth, fluid imbalances and lowered resistance to infections
because our food is not sufficient to meet body needs for energy and protein.
Nearly 200 million children under the age of five suffer from acute or chronic
PEM.
- Vitamin A deficiency can
lead to poor night vision, eye lesions and, in severe cases, permanent
blindness. Vitamin A deficiency can also lead to increased illness and death
from infections. More than 200 million children under the age of five are at risk of
Vitamin A deficiency.
- Iodine deficiency can
cause goitre (swollen thyroid gland), mental retardation, brain damage and
reproductive failure. World-wide, 2 billion people are at risk of iodine
deficiency.
- Iron deficiency can cause
nutritional anaemias, problem pregnancies, stunted growth and lower
resistance to infections, as well as long-term impairment in mental and
motor development. Worldwide, 3.5 billion people suffer from iron deficiency.
- Low-birth-weight babies (less than 2.5kg) who survive being born too small are likely to remain underweight and sickly throughout childhood and adolescence. About 30 million infants are born each year in developing countries with impaired growth caused by poor nutrition in the womb.
Major health risks associated with the dietary excesses of overnutrition include cardiovascular disease, stroke, obesity and diabetes. The problems are on the rise in both developing and developed countries.
Food contamination is a serious obstacle to nutritional well-being. Children are especially vulnerable to food-borne diseases, which rob them of crucial nutrients through diarrhoea.
Activities
The fact sheet: Vitamins and Minerals provides information about each of the eight major nutrients or nutrient groups, their role in the body, deficiency symptoms and food sources. Pick one or two (or as many as time will allow) of the nutrients that might be a problem in your area, discuss the nutrient and health symptoms listed in the fact sheet, and ask students to identify local food sources of the nutrient. Ask students to suggest ways in which people might receive more of the nutrients through their diets. To determine specific nutrient problems in your area, contact your local health care or extension worker or the Department of Health.
Concept: Hunger affects the well-being of people, nations and the world
The strength of a nation depends on the strength of its people. When people are healthy, strong and well nourished, they have the energy, creativity, security and courage to work and learn, solve problems and live their daily lives with dignity and joy, ultimately advancing civilization to new heights. Well-fed citizens are productive citizens who contribute to their society. People who are not well nourished do not have the energy to work or to learn and often need constant medical care. The costs of hunger in lost potential, health care and possible civil unrest can be staggering for a society.
Activities
Discuss the issues listed above with students.
With the students, create a list of great people in their community, their country, or
the world, from either the past or the present, who have helped to create a better
world. Their contributions could be social or humanitarian,
or through scientific or artistic creations. Ask students to imagine the
difference in the world if these people had been too malnourished, hungry or
ill to do the work that they did. Tell them how important it is to all of us that
each person in the world be able to function at their full potential. Lost
potential hurts us all.
